Chatham Board: Supreme Court “Not Binding” Here. Federal Suit Filed.
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Policy 5145.7 • Federal lawsuit filed Aug. 26, 2026, against the School District of the Chathams, Morris County, N.J.
Their Arrogance Never Stops
A Morris County school board just told parents that a U.S. Supreme Court parental-rights decision is “not binding” in New Jersey. That is not a technicality. It is a warning.
On August 26, the Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Moms for Liberty against the School District of the Chathams Board of Education and Superintendent Emily Sortino. The case is Moms for Liberty v. School District of the Chathams Board of Education. Local coverage, including Patch, confirmed the suit this week. The target is Policy 5145.7 — Gender Identity and Expression, adopted January 8, 2024.
This is not “Trenton talk” — meaning a bill, a guidance memo, or a hearing that never touches your child’s school. It is a concrete case: one Morris County district, one policy number, one federal complaint. It is happening in Chatham Borough and Chatham Township — a few miles from our Parsippany office.
What Policy 5145.7 actually does
We reviewed the district’s own policy text. It does not merely “protect privacy.” It builds a school-run process that can leave parents out.
The child, not the parent, controls the identity claim.
The policy states that “the responsibility for determining a student’s gender-related identity rests with the student.” Once a student asks for a new name, pronoun, or opposite-sex facility, a counselor meets the child confidentially.Parental notice is optional and filtered through staff.
The key line: “If the student’s parent/guardian is not aware of the request, the school counselor will assess whether, and to what extent, parents/guardians can be involved.”
Parents are included only “where permitted by law, and with the consent of the student.” Age is a factor — not a requirement to tell mom and dad.The Commissioner’s guidance is treated as a command to ignore parental consent.
The policy repeats that districts are directed “to accept a student’s asserted gender identity regardless of parent consent or involvement.” If the student does not want parents informed, staff are told to discuss the risk that parents might find out — not the duty to tell them.School records can be rewritten while the legal sex is hidden.
Staff must use the chosen name and pronouns. Documents and class materials are issued in the new identity. Birth name is kept confidential. NJ SMART reporting follows the asserted identity. The district keeps a separate local file of legal name and sex assigned at birth.Facilities and sports follow identity, not sex.
Students may use restrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas “in accordance with their gender identity.” Athletics follow NJSIAA’s transgender policy: participation by asserted identity or sex at birth, but not both.Speech is policed.
The policy sits on top of harassment, intimidation, and bullying rules. The lawsuit argues students and parents can be disciplined for refusing a classmate’s chosen pronouns — including speech off campus. That is compelled speech.Outside groups are baked in.
The policy itself points families and staff to GLSEN, The Trevor Project, PFLAG, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and similar organizations. The complaint alleges referrals can occur without parental notice.
This is a social-transition protocol run by counselors and principals. It is not a narrow anti-bullying rule.
Sounds eerily similar to policy 5756, which school districts across the state are rescinding. Many school districts, regarding 5756, realized it's extreme overreach in erasing parents concerning the dangerous contagion of gender identity. No one is born in the wrong body! This idea of transgenderism is a mental disorder. A fictional ideation that has no basis in any reputable, replicated scientific studies. It is a LIE!
Why the lawsuit matters
The complaint says Policy 5145.7 violates:
The Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment — parents’ right to direct the care, custody, and moral and religious upbringing of their children
Plaintiffs are described as practicing Christians who believe God created male and female and that it is wrong to treat a child as the opposite sex. They argue the district is affirming a contested ideology at school while hiding it at home — and punishing dissent.
They rely on two 2026 Supreme Court decisions:
Mirabelli v. Bonta (March 2, 2026) — Thomas More Society’s case. The Court held that public-school policies fostering secret gender transitions substantially interfere with parents’ constitutional right to guide their children’s religious upbringing.
Mahmoud v. Taylor — cited for the same parental-rights principle.
At the June 15, 2026 board meeting, Board President Ann Ciccarelli told the public that Mirabelli “is not binding on public school districts in New Jersey.” The complaint calls that legally false and open defiance. Supreme Court holdings on the First and Fourteenth Amendments bind every public school in the country. A New Jersey district does not get a local exemption because the first case arose in California.
The suit asks the court to declare 5145.7 unconstitutional and block it unless the district requires parental notice and consent before social transition, name/pronoun changes, mixed-sex sports or facilities, or referral to outside advocacy groups. It also seeks nominal damages and attorneys’ fees.
Chatham has not issued a detailed legal defense in the reporting we have seen. Patch said board members were not immediately available for comment.
Garden State Families analysis
Policy 5145.7 is not unique. It tracks New Jersey Department of Education transgender guidance and N.J.S.A. 18A:36-41. That is why this case is larger than one Morris County district. If Chatham can say the Supreme Court “doesn’t apply here,” every board using the same template will say it next.
Three points for parents:
First, “privacy” is being used to invert authority. A minor cannot sign a field-trip form, take most medicine, or change a legal name without a parent. This policy lets staff treat a new name, pronouns, locker room, and school records as the child’s secret — and treats the parent as a risk factor.
Second, social transition is not neutral. Changing names, pronouns, records, and facilities is an intervention. It rehearses a new identity all day, every day, then sends the child home to a family that may have no idea. That is why Mirabelli treated concealment as a substantial burden on religious and parental rights — not a counseling courtesy.
Third, compelled pronouns are a speech and faith issue. If a student or parent can be tagged for “HIB” for telling the truth about sex, the district has established an official creed. Christians, Jews, Muslims, and many secular parents who believe sex is binary are not “bullies” for declining to lie.
We have said this for years: parents — not counselors, not boards, not Trenton guidance documents — are the first educators and guardians of their children. Chatham’s policy says the opposite. The federal complaint now puts that conflict in front of a judge.
What you can do this week
Read your own district’s policy. Search “[your district] 5145.7” or “Gender Identity and Expression.” Many New Jersey districts copied the same language.
Ask two questions on the record at the next board meeting:
Does our policy require parental notification before a name, pronoun, facility, or record change?
Does this board treat Mirabelli v. Bonta as binding?
Use our tools. Parental Non-Consent Form on Human Sexuality, Parental Toolkit, and Parents Portal are on gardenstatefamilies.org.
Watch this case. A ruling for parents in Chatham will pressure every New Jersey district still running secret social transitions. A loss, or a delay, will be used to pretend the Supreme Court stopped at the Delaware River.
The Thomas More Society promised after Mirabelli that districts that kept hiding so-called gender transitions from parents would be held accountable. Chatham chose to test that promise. Morris County families should not have to sue to find out what is happening to their own children during the school day.
Parents are the first line of defense. Act like it.
For faith, freedom, and the natural family,